UT Arts Nexus to Explode as ‘Firecracker’

Published: Apr 13, 2010

A collaboration of music, dance and digital art between the University
of Tampa and the Tampa Museum of Art, Arts Nexus is as much about the
night as it is about the future relationship between these two icons on
the river.

“We wanted to do something different, cutting edge,
splashy,” said Haig Mardirosian, dean of the College of Arts and
Letters. “We wanted something a little bit more explosive. It’s a
firecracker.”

On the evening of April 15, students and faculty
from the University of Tampa will converge on the museum in a
1960s-style happening, a night of multidisciplinary art that involves
the audience.

The night includes a parade from campus to the
museum, a dance performance of structured improvisation, flashes of
experimental films from communications students and the piecing together
of minimalist music, one which has no definitive end and will wrap the
building in sound much like the LED lights already do with color.

“It’s
hypnotic, trancelike and requires a different kind of listening
experience,” said Assistant Professor Bradford Blackburn, of the piece
by Terry Riley, "in C." “It’s symbolic of the Arts Nexus event in that
individuals’ creative senses are coming together with the same creative
vision.”

All of that palpable energy happens simultaneously, continuously from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., and gracefully intertwined.

On
Thursday night Professor Dana Plays will premiere, “Demolition,” a
two-panel digital installation, which includes footage of the demolition
of the old Tampa Museum of Art.

“'Demolition,’ involving
footage I shot of the old museum structure coming down, set against new
media made by a variety of artists, really epitomizes what I see this
event as being about - tearing down the old, bringing in the new - new
ideas, new relationships, new art,” Plays said.

When Mardirosian
arrived at the University last year, he saw the museum rising up across
the river and saw an opportunity. He also noticed that UT was doing
great things without the community knowing. So he picked up the phone
and called Todd Smith, executive director of the museum.

The
Arts Nexus is a “dramatic manifestation of this relationship,” said
Mardirosian, of a renewed effort of the University and the museum to
work in partnership. Mardirosian said they hope to offer some of UT’s
art history classes in the museum and use museum staff as adjunct
faculty.

“It’s really about defining a relationship on two banks
of a river,” Mardirosian said. “This is a symbolic kickoff of something
that will be long-term and will impact the quality of life and the
quality of education, which is what we’re both about.”

The
parade will begin at 8:10 p.m. in front of the R.K. Bailey Art Studio on
North Boulevard on the UT campus and will continue across the bridge to
the museum, where events will take place inside and out. The event is
free and open to the public.